"Mister O'Marsy!" A young white haired woman prods the office door with the dull side of her wrench, demanding for the user behind the door to come out.
"Just %#!* off, Pandora!" the voice behind the door responds.
Pandora grows increasingly more frustrated. "Mister O'Marsy, this is a meeting hosted by Ankama, you must participate and represent our company!" she continues to pound on the door, this time with only her hand.
A moment of silent follows, a bit longer then what Pandora would expect from her more childish manager. Pandora leans her head to the door, trying to pick up what O'Marsy was up to. Unable to pick up any sound, she presses her head onto the wooden frame.
"… Mister O'Marsy?" Pandora softy knocks.
Pandora was suddenly pushed back by a force behind the door, her cheek taking most of the force. As she recoils back, rubbing her cheek, she sees that the pushback caused the wooden frame to chip a bit in the middle. The man on the other side lets out a burst of laughter. Pandora retaliates by stomping back to the door and kicking in the damaged area, the splinters now grown and protruding inwards.
"Just what is going on in here?" A tall regal man enters into the room, his white puffy hair combed down and suit loosely fastened, waving slightly as he moves.
Pandora pivots around on the spot with her hands up in guilt, recognizing exactly who it belongs to. "M-Mister Harebourg!" she stutters.
Harebourg pauses his trod upon seeing Pandora, expecting some form of answer from the assistant and mechanic. Pandora remains frozen in place with her hands over her flushed face. Failing to answer in time, Harebourg averts his attention to the door. Though the new hole in the door, Harebourg was able to see bits of blue clothing from the other side. He sighs to himself, knowing exactly what the problem was.
Without removing his eyes from the door, "Pandora, I need you to run down to my office and check the ventilation system. It's been getting hotter in there and I don't know why."
With her head down, Pandora nods, "Yes, mister Harebourg," and steps around the Frighost themed man, accepting her dismissal.
With crossed arms, Harebourg walks up to the door and leans on it. "Chad, I need you to open this door. Can you do that for me?" Harebourg could hear shuffling from the other side, but no answer. He tries to evoke for a response again, "Chad?"
"I'm not going." Chad says, voice a bit muffled by something.
Harebourg pinches his nose bridge in slight annoyance. "That's not what I'm here for, Chad."
The sound of boots come closer to the door on the other side, stopping to turn the doorknob. Harebourg moves away from the door to not fall in when it is opened. Slowly, the door creaks as it is pulled inwards. Chad lets the frame slide open on its own after he was able to see his superior.
Leaning on the side of the frame, Chad asks, "What do you want then?"
Harebourg notices the appearance change on his sub coordinate. Chad was holding a white towel to the right side of his head that has a faint burning scent to it, the cloth next to his hair was dabbed red. His right eyebrow had that strange shaven design that Harebourg would never understand the appeal of. Chad's usual suit was incredibly dis arranged and unbuttoned at inappropriate areas, some areas sporting a tear. Moving over slightly, Hareborug spots a purple spiked Bulldagger collar hidden behind the suit's neck sleeve.
Wanting to take advantage of the easier-then-usual cooperative state of Chad, Hareborug skips commenting on how Chad looked. "I've been watching your behavior progressively change, and I was wondering if there was an issue that I could help you with."
Chad stays quiet, looking at the ground now. He didn't instantly shut out Harebourg. From Harebourg's past experience, this was an extremely bad sign.
Chad couldn't have picked a worser time to act this way, their zeppelin to the Ankama convention will be departing soon. Harebourg chooses his next words carefully, not to give Chad a full leeway and to give the conversation a chance to resume at a later time.
"That bad, eh? I'll go get your bag so you can unpack then. I won't force you to go, but I do want an explanation when I get back."
Harebourg pardons himself, intending to get Chad's bag as he promised.
"I don't want this life anymore." Chad says in a quiet, unfamiliar tone to Harebourg.
Harebourg stops in his tracks and felt more frigid then his days in Frighost. He processes the words Chad said a few times, yet still asks, "I'm sorry, what was that?"
"The paperwork, meetings, the scent of ink," Chad lays his towel on his forehead, exposing the injury he was treating earlier. "I went on a heist earlier with some ragtags. I miss the thrill of being a scoundrel, is what I'm getting at."
Raising a hand to his chin, Harebourg lets out an intrigued 'hm'. Thinking about the situation now, he couldn't help letting a small chuckle escape him, mostly at himself for panicking so much.
"Hey, what's so funny, snowball?" Chad glares at Harebourg, clearly offended.
Holding a hand up in a yield, Harebourg answers, "Chad, I think what you need is a vacation. To be honest, we all do, you, Pandora, and I."
Unconvinced or simply doesn't care, Chad slinks back into his 'venting room', originally intended as a relief lounge, but was left untouched until Chad gradually migrated into it whenever he was frustrated. Harebourg takes this as permission to follow Chad inside without being booted out. Chad seats himself on a seemingly barely used vanilla sofa with grey spots, resting his back into its pillows. It's been awhile since the last time Hareboug visited this nest of Chad's, only able to remember a small pile of decoration bones that symbolized Chad's hometown of Srambad.
The room was now… Very Chad. The occasional bone was scattered on the floor, the walls were decorated with panels of the Srambad god emblem. Most if not all of the furniture (with the exception of the sofa) was imported from Srambad. Underneath the sofa, Harebourg spots the handle of Chad's long blade dagger. It's a problem if an inspector comes across this room, but for now, Harebourg will tolerate the idea of Chad making himself more comfortable in a business environment, especially after today with Chad's confession.
Finished observing the room, Harebourg stops a fair distance from Chad and puts on his best persuasion accent. "Think about it, Chad. We've been though a lot together to get where we are now. I don't even recall a single moment when we didn't need another." Harebourg spots a dark blue cabinet drawer that was slightly opened, exposing white bandages and gauze pads.
"Do you remember when you talked me out of joining up with another, more established corporation, Saddia Shoes?" Harebourg eases his way towards the cabinet. There was really no reason to try to be stealthy, but with an absentminded Chad on his hands, he didn't want to risk losing that mental state from sudden movements. "You fondly referred them as 'The Tree Huggers Inc' due to their aggressive pushes to environmental awareness, which I do agree were a bit too often." He reaches into the drawer and tugs out the first bandage he feels and a piece of gauze.
Chad nonchalantly grunts in approval, looking at nothing in particular.
"Well that same business now has been burnt to the ground. It turns out the materials used for their products have subtle, long term health effects of chipping away at the skin. They were promptly shut down along with any other of their branches that received the same resources from Saddia."
Chad snorts and swipes his nose. "I knew those eco freaks were shady."
Harebourg lets out a chuckle in agreement, "Indeed, your suspicions have paid off. You've practically saved us, actually."
Harebourg takes a seat on the couch with Chad, holding up medical materials, though still missing one thing. Harebough briefly looks around for the missing material, setting the current bandages down. He spots the item of desire just past Chad, resting sideways on the Srambad desk.
"Pardon me for a moment…" Harebourg reaches over Chad, one leg remaining on the couch while the other stood on the ground, acting as an anchor. He accidentally brushes his cotton collar across Chad's nose, which he apologizes for. Reeling back, Hareboug returns with a bottle of alcohol, previously used by Chad for his towel.
The weight shift from Harebourg causes Chad to sink closer to the overdressed man, but he makes no effort to re-distance himself from the motion. Seeing no resistance, Harebourg pops open the bottle of alcohol and lightly dabs it on the fine cloth mesh until it was only slightly damp in the middle. Placing the bottle aside, leaning into a crevice of the sofa so it wouldn't roll off, Harebourg leans in closer to Chad and holds up the soaked pad, asking if he could assist Chad with his laceration. Chad doesn't say anything, but tilts his head to the side, raising the gash on his head for Harebourg.
Scooting in closer, Harebourg resumes his convincing while running a hand though Chad's hair to reveal more of the wound.
"Of course there were the times when you would get me in trouble." Harebourg comments.
Moving the last bit of hair, Harebourg gently pads the lash from the small edges first before running over to the larger section. It really didn't look as bad as Hareboug thought, it won't even require stitching. Chad initially winces at the burning sensation of the alcohol, but grows used to it and endures until Harebourg finds it satisfactory to stop.
"But there were also the times you would get me out of trouble."
Now free of dried blood, Harebourg lets the cyan hair flow though his fingers and back into their original place. He leans back and folds up the used gauze, wrapping it up in another gauze to throw away later. Harebourg would prefer to see that injury at least bandaged, but he decided against making Chad use it when it was only a thin line.
"My favorite scenario was back when you were caught in a fight with another company's employee, Pandora somehow getting involved also." Harebourg scoots back and straightens his legs to point away from the sofa, resting his clasped hands on his lap. "I was sent to court, but they dropped the charges shortly after I entered the room. It was fun watching the lawyers fumble like a flock of headless tofu, as if the evidence from both sides were tampered enough to be unable to make a coherent case." Harebourg sends Chad a sly sideways glance.
Chad only shrugs, a smirk forming on his face. "It's easier then it looks."
Harebourg laughs, finally confirming the culprit of that one case. He gives his mischievous aide a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"Ah, yes, I wouldn't have doubted it, coming from you, my crafty shadow." Harebourg felt his smile involuntarily fade, remembering why he was having this conversation in the first place. He lets his hand slide off and rejoin his other hand on his lap.
Chad saw Harebourg's expression shift. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel really bad from it. He quickly looks away, not entirely sure why.
Harebourg sighs and looks down to the purple dust stained carpet. "Call me clingy, desperate, 'snowball', whatever you deem suitable," Harebourg raises a hand to his cheek, the other resting crossed on an elbow. "I really don't want to lose you, Chad." Harebourg leans back and crosses his arms, slouching.
Chad runs a hand over his hair, feeling across the dents of his gash. He lets out an annoyed huff before abruptly standing.
"Chad?" Harebourg could feel his throat dragging itself downwards.
Chad removes his suit, only in his undershirt now. He tosses it to a corner of the room, landing on his collection of questionable contraband. Moving across from Harebourg, he travels to the same cabinet of bandages and opens up one of the higher drawers. He sorts out a pile of clothing until he picks out his preferred suit.
"When we come back from this meeting, I want us to discuss about this vacation of ours." Chad flaps his suit out, much more Srambad designed then his previous shirt, before hustling it on him, missing a few buttons from the rush.
Harebourg slowly stands, tapping the tips of his fingers together, taking his time for a grin to spread across his face. "Of course, mister O'Marsy." Harebourg tops it off with a bow.
Chad only clicks his tongue and pushes against Harebourg's head with his hand to get him to stop bowing, purposely messing up his hair. Harebourg quickly regains his balance and attempts to reverse the damage done by Chad, not really concerned with it as much being happy that Chad was willing to stay with him for a little longer.
From outside, a fast paced clanging of the metal from a pair of boots makes their way closer to them, followed by the sound of a traveling bag being rolled.
"Mister Harebourg, Mister O'Marsy!" they shout, the voice belonging to Pandora.
Harebourg treads to the only exit of the room, almost running into Pandora as she shoves the door aside.
"O-Our Zeppelin will be departing without us soon, we nee-" Chad cuts his way past both Harebourg and Pandora, mentioning something about being 'slower then a fat bulldagger'.
It must've been the work of some kind of divine entity, their designated flight to the convention was delayed due to an emergency maintenance, giving them the time they needed to board on. Pandora rushes on ahead, trying to pick up their luggage before the crowd swoops in. She's found Hareboug's bag, a modestly sized cream roller bag decorated with dangling trinkets of Ice Cracklers and snowflakes, but Chad's bag was no where to be found.
The duo of Harebourg and Chad make their way toward the luggage distribution machine, spinning with its large metallic layer that keeps the bags from slipping into oblivion.
"Yo 'Dora, where's my bag?" Chad walks around the machine, almost climbing onto the conveyer and tossing away other peoples bags to search for his own if Harebourg didn't stand over him, keeping a hand on his dog collar to prevent him from doing so.
"I don't know. Your bags were tied together— I don't know why only your bag is gone." Pandora stops her search, watching the luggage duct whenever another bag would fall, hoping it would be Chad's.
"You can't be serious…" Chad runs a hand though his hair, the opposite side of his tear.
Harebourg rests a hand on Chad's shoulder, consoling for his loss. "I actually knew that something like this would happen, so I packed a few of your things in my own bag."
Chad looks up to his right, looking up to his superior, a whole look of 'why' plastered on his face.
Harebourg's hand remains on Chad's shoulder, tugging him closer this time. "Oh don't look at me like that, Chad. You never return from a trip in one piece, so I prepare for the scenario." Harebourg reaches into his jacket's pocket for with his free hand, pulling out a black leash. "I even found this for your dog collar." He stretches the collar in front of Chad, holding the link with the hand on Chad's shoulder. "You never told me that you had a dog before, Chad, though I suppose it's natural that you would have a guard dog at one point."
Hareborug quickly hooks the leash to the loop of the collar before Chad could protest. He gives it a gentle tug to make sure it's secured.
"I'm afraid I can't say the same for myself," Harebourg tugs the leash again, encouraging Chad to move with it. He lowers himself to whisper into Chad's ear, "Until now."
Chad was flushed and speechless. Harebourg wasn't even sure if he was breathing properly.
"Sir Harebourg…" Pandora only uses 'sir' when she thinks someone has gone a bit too far.
"Too soon, eh, Pandora?" Harebourg jiggles the leash link off the loop and wraps it around his arm before storing it in his pocket again.
"I… My leash…" Chad reaches out in the air, wanting his leash back.
"Sorry Chad, but I believe I can make better use of this for the trip. I'll return it to you when we return though, I promise." Harebourg pulls the grip of his luggage, ready to move out. "Pandora, go ahead and file a complaint for the missing bag. Chad and I will have to depart now."
"Y-Yes, will do, mister Harebourg. Have a good trip."
Though the large glass walls, the ship to Ankama revs up its engines, the sound powerful enough to creating a deep rumble that hits the glass.
"Attention all passengers of flight E-0554, your airship is ready and will depart in 15 minutes." The announcer rings overhead.
Harebourg turns to Pandora, "Farewell Pandora, I trust you can take care of our 'home' for a week or so?"
"Of course mister Harebourg."
Harebourg begins to make his way to the gateway for their zeppelin, not noticing Chad lagging behind.
Chad holds himself with hands on his arms, evidence of a blush still remaining. He whispers to Pandora, "I never had a dog before…" before trotting up to Harebourg.